Barbeque
by Chickie-Poo
Summary: Speedy comes up with an idea. But instead of all Titans East running to the bomb shelter, Bumblebee decides it's a great idea. Titans East will hold a barbecue. Mas, Menos, Bee, Aqualad, Speedy, Robin, Starfire, Beastboy, Raven, Cyborg, and the new member, Essence have a great time together. But with super powered teens, nothing ever goes this perfect. So what happens? READ!


Hey Guuuuuys! I know, I know! I published this story originally in February BUT I got a message from someone. He told me my OC's powers were very unclear. So! I decided to rewrite this little one shot. Enjoy and give my little Manifestor a chance. :)

It was a simple idea. It wasn't even meant to be taken seriously. Oh, but it sure was turning the Titans East Tower upside down. And what caused this utter mayhem of screaming, stinging, running, and the occasional threat? One word: barbeque.

_~~Flashback~~_

_In Titans East tower, Titans East were sitting in their main ops room. Mas e Menos were playing video games. Bee was painting her nails, Aqualad was feeding some fish that found their way into the tower, and Speedy was fixing his hair, real surprise there!_

_He was thinking about the two girls' numbers he had scored last week. 'What were their names? Kathy and Jenn? Jenny and Kate? Who cares? They were hot! I wonder how I could see them again….' Speedy pondered to himself, when he was struck with an idea._

"_Hey Bee, great idea just came to me." Speedy said, breaking the beautiful silence. The other four Titans groaned and looked at him. This could not be good. "Let's let, stay with me here, Speedy throw a barbeque!" He said smiling._

"_Actually, that's a great idea!" Bee said smiling._

"_It is?" Speedy questioned. He didn't expect to get this far. "Well sweet, because there are these super hot-"_

"_No. We aren't going to let you throw a barbeque, but all of us could. You know, as a team." Speedy groaned. Even when he had a good idea, it was shut down or altered. "It'll give us an opportunity to meet Essence."_

"_Who's Essence?" Aqualad asked, now interested with the mention of a new name._

"_The new recruit Robin took in from Gotham City. It'll be fun. Mas, Menos, will run to the store, Aqualad can call and invite the Titans, I'll start setting up the roof, and Speedy you can get fireworks."_

_At the word fireworks, Speedy bolted out the door and to the nearest place to get fireworks at a speed that would make the Flash, himself, jealous._

_Everything was done and ready to go, and the BBQ was set for tomorrow._

_~~Present time~~_

"Robin and his team should be here any minute! Where is Aqualad?" Bee yelled.

"He's working." Speedy stated plainly. Bee looked confused then remembered.

Aqualad had gotten a job at a local coffee shop to have some extra spending money. "Oh, right." A doorbell went off. "We have a doorbell?"

Mas e Menos ran to the door and opened it, immediately starting their fighting over Starfire. Bee rolled her eyes at the two young boys and walked over to the group of Titans. The five original Titans stood in casual civilian clothing, and a short teen stood behind them. She wore jean shorts, a solid white tee-shirt, and bright red Toms. She also had a simple white pearl ring on her right ring finger. Her eyes shone a bright, fluorescent blue and were framed behind black Ray Ban prescribed glasses. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head. She would appear to be a normal teen if not for her eye color and bright, almost glowing, skin tone.

"Hey Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, Sparky, and Starfire, how's it going." Bee asked, smiling.

"It would be better if we hadn't had to fly for three hours." Beast Boy complained.

Raven sent him a glare that shut him up.

Robin spoke up, "Bee, I want you to meet Essence, our new member."

The girl, Essence, stepped forward. She smiled at Bumblebee. "It's very nice to meet you, Bee. But Essence is way too formal. Just call me Essie."

Bee chuckled. "Well Essie, I'm Bumblebee, but everyone calls me Bee. I'm the leader of Titans East. Come and meet the rest of the team." Bee led the group upstairs, onto the roof.

Essie spent the rest of the day getting to know some of her extended team members. Also, stories were exchanged, hot dog contests went down, food was eaten, and something was set on fire…

Speedy, Essie, and Beast Boy were sitting by the table. On the table, there were the three teens' drinks, a citronella candle, and a pile of napkins.

"What exactly are your powers, Essie?" Speedy asked.

"I'm a Manifestor," she replied.

"Meaning?"

"I can make things out of thin air. I manifest thing."

"Just like that? You can make things out of nothing?"

"Well there's a really complicated process behind it, but yeah pretty much."

"And you can keep making things whenever you'd like?"

She pointed at her ring. "Well, this ring sends a small electrical current into my hand when I've manifest too much. If I keep making things, stuff will start to disappear."

"I'll have to see it, to believe it."

Beast Boy exchanged a mischievous look with the new Titan. "Let's make this more interesting."

"I'm listening."

"Five bucks says you can set fire to that candle without touching it."

Essie smirked. "You're on!" After some concentration, the candle was lit. Unfortunately, the napkins next to the candles also ignited into flames.

"Essie! How did you even manage to do that?" Cyborg yelled at the girl.

"Who leaves a citronella _candle_next to the _napkins_? It's paper people! Something's going to burn!"

"It wasn't lit!"

"….. What's your point?"

Cyborg face palmed. "At least make some more napkins."

The said Manifestor stuck her tongue out at the cybernetic teen. But she complied and manifested more napkins. She sat back down next to Beastboy and Speedy.

The two boys, who had lost the bet, handed her five dollars from each. She smirked and accepted the cash. No one challenged her abilities and didn't pay for it.

Bee and Cyborg also got into a huge cook off. It was pretty delicious. But of course, super powered teens never play fair, so there was an unclear winner.

"I'm telling you Sparky. My burgers are the clear winner."

"No way! MY ultimate double cheese bacon surprise burger was the best!"

They continued fighting like that until Robin suggested they try each other's burgers. Then there was the fight for the other's burger to win.

"Bee, your burger was better."

"No way! That hint of sweet won, Cy."

When Aqualad finally got back to the tower, the sun was beginning to set. He found his way up to the roof where he was greeted by nine super powered teens and a girl he had never met.

"Yo, fish boy!" Speedy yelled over the noise of chatter and music. Aqualad glared at him for the hated pet name. "Come meet my new home girl, Essie."

Aqualad walked over to the two. He looked at Essie and was at a loss for words. Never in all his life had he been dumbfound by the beauty of a girl. It has always been the other way around. "Hey, I'm Aqualad." He said smiling.

She smiled back with a red tint in her checks. "I'm Essence. But just call me Essie."

Speedy noticed it and smiled knowingly. Aqualad started to get nervous. Speedy with be ruthless, exposing something that hadn't even happened yet. Speedy opened his mouth, but Aqualad beat him to it.

"I've been working all day, I'm pretty sure I smell, and I need a cup of coffee." He rushed out. "I'll be right back." And with that, he ran into the house and showered.

The barbeque resumed. Pretty soon, the fireworks were brought out. Explosions of color filled the dark sky. Speedy spared no expense, so these fireworks were topnotch.

Essie attempted to light a bottle rocket. After waiting, the Manifestor declared, "DUD!" and threw it into the bucket of water… Or so everyone thought. The dud had actually fallen in the citronella _candle._

Aqualad came back up for the barbeque. Freshly showered and holding a mug of complimentary coffee from his job, he sat down and enjoyed the fireworks. His long black hair was left loose to air dry. He easily joined in on the laughter and storytelling.

Too bad he was sitting right next to the candle. It was also too bad that he was getting attacked by mosquitoes. He lit the candle to ward off the blood sucking bugs away from him. He didn't notice the firecracker…

The Teen Titans heard a loud explosion, but no firecrackers were lit. They all jumped into a fighting stance. When they turned around, every face held the same shocked expression. There sat Aqualad, covered head to toe in candle wax. Dried chucks were tangled in his long, black hair. His exposed skin showed signs of burns were the hot wax had touched. He calmly stood up. The other Titans continued to stand there, shocked and unmoving. Aqualad tried to maintain his composure.

He failed.

Aqualad raised the hand holding the coffee above his head. He slammed the mug down to the ground where the mug shattered to pieces and coffee spilled everywhere. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!? THERE IS FREAKIN CANDLE WAX ALL OVER ME! IM GOING TO BE BURNED FOR MONTHS! MONTHS I TELL YOU! WHO WAS THE GENIUS WHO PUT A FIREWORK NEXT TO A CANDLE! A FIREWORK! GUNPOWER PLUS FIRE EQUALS BOOM! BUT GUNPOWDER PLUS FIRE PLUS WAX EQUALS _THIS_! I CANT FREAKING BELIEVE THIS! I JUST SHOWERED! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE ME TO GET THIS CRAP OUT OF MY HAIR! YOU ALL SUCK! BECAUSE WHILE I WAS SLAVING AWAY, MAKING COFFEE FOR PEOPLE ALL DAY, AND YOU WERE HAVING A GAY OLD TIME AND WHEN I FINALLY GET TO JOIN THE PARTY, YOU ALL LOOK OVER THE DETAIL OF A DAMN FIRECRACKER NEXT TO A CANDLE! DON'T YOU REALIZE THE SIMPLICITY OF IT! THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVIODED! SO EASILY AVOIDED!" He let out one final groan of anger and stomped past the Titans, back to the main level, and right back into the shower.

The remaining members stared at the door in silence. Speedy was the first to break the silence. He held his sides in an uncontrollable laughter. One by one, the other members joined in the side splitting, stomach holding, and tear causing laughter.

However, the newer member quietly slipped away inside the tower. She found her way to the bathroom. After hearing the sound of running water, she knocked on the door. "Hey Aqualad, I'm really sorry about the wax. It's really my fault."

"You're fault?" A voice said behind her. Essie shrieked and turned around. There stood Aqualad, holding a change of clothes. He chuckled at her surprise.

"Yeah, I'm the genius who put the "damn firecracker" next to a candle." She said, quoting words from his rant.

He laughed at her word choice. "It's alright."

"Thanks." She moved out of the way and Aqualad opened the door. She started heading back to the roof. But before she did, she turned around to face the Atlanthian. "You got to admit though, it was hilarious."

Aqualad laughed. "Yeah, I guess it was."

Essie left and Aqualad started at the same spot thinking about the girl. He smiled. _'I think I'm really going to like that Manifestor.' _He thought to himself.

And this was the beginning of a beautiful pairing.

So what do you guys think of Essie? Is she a keeper? Review, PM me, or hunt me down but please tell me what do you think of her and the pairing?

BTW, Aqualad's rant was probably my favorite part to write.


End file.
